Watch: Rip Curl GromSearch Finals Are Live Right Now
Peep the world’s best U16 surfers, fighting for the crown in Bali.
Throw a handful of clashing ingredients from the world’s edges into a blender, and you’ve got a mess in a glass. Throw 18 of the world’s best under-16 surfers onto the glamorous island of Bali, and you’ve got a potent cocktail of raw talent and hungry ambition.
The Rip Curl GromSearch International Final is back. The game? The world’s best sub-16 surfers battling tooth and nail for a crown no kid forgets.
Since ’99, the GromSearch has been the launchpad for youth eyeing the big leagues. World Champs like Steph Gilmore, Medina, Carissa Moore, and Toledo all cut their teeth here. Olympic medalists too — Caroline Marks, Owen Wright, Jack Robinson. GromSearch graduates have stacked up the last 17 women’s world titles and claimed half the Olympic medals in the last two Games. The legacy is strong.
This year, the main stage is set in the stadium sands of Canggu. The beach will be packed, no question — eyes fixed, postures perfect, European tourists quietly fumbling to understand what they’re watching.
“Yesterday, we went on a little search adventure for the kids,” says Rip Curl’s on-ground social media wrangler, Caleb Williams. “We found sick waves, ran some heats. It was non-elimination, just to get them in the water for seeding, a little search mission up the coast. Steph Gilmore even pulled on a rashie.”
To keep things running smoothly, Steph, Molly Pickles, and Rosie Hodge are in town, taking on some highly important behind-the-scenes positions.
“Molly’s handling content and the mic, Rosie’s down on the ground for the live stream and commentary, and Steph’s just here for the vibes,” Caleb explains.
To make it into the top 16 under 16, the formula was simple: win your region’s GromSearch, and you’re in. If not, TikTok was your backup route to Bali. Post a clip, cross your fingers, and hope the algorithm is kind to you. More than 250 entries flooded the feed, and Steph, Mase Ho, and Gabby Medina were left to sift for gold.
In the end, they found Cataline Zariquiey from Peru, and Dylan Wilcoxen from the deeper corners of the Indonesian Archipelago.
If surfing’s getting old, then the cracked skin must’ve already peeled off and disappeared. What’s left is fresh, green, and unrelenting.
The women’s teenage storm is the most exciting thing in our little world, no doubt. Throw a mic in front of a fresh face, and you’ve got a highlight reel on tap. Case in point: Hughie Vaughn’s madcap interviews at Stab High Japan, Hughie and Lungi Slabb’s baguette battles in France, and now, Molly Pickles is stepping up as the raw voice of the GromSearch final.
The kids are the sauce, the pulse, the whole damn show. Let em’ loose, blindfold the adults, and let the GromSearch begin.
Finals Day goes live on Rip Curl’s YouTube channel this Saturday, November 16 (Bali time) — that’s Friday evening in the USA. Watch it here.
2024 International Finalists:
- Ben Zanatta (Australia)
- Rosie Richardson (Australia)
- Lucas Cassidy (United States)
- Eden Walla (United Sates)
- Carla Morera De La Vall (Europe)
- Dylan Donegan Santos (Europe)
- Louise Jane Lepront (South Africa)
- Rory Dace (South Africa)
- Ziggy Mackenzie (Australia)
- Lucas Skinner (United Kingdom)
- Western Hirst (Indonesia)
- Victoria Muñoz Larreta (Argentina)
- Aditya Somiya (Indonesia)
- Jasemine Studer (Indonesia)
#GromSearchOnline wildcards
- Catalina Zariquiey (Peru)
- Dylan Wilcoxen (Indonesia)
Comments
Comments are a Stab Premium feature. Gotta join to talk shop.
Already a member? Sign In
Want to join? Sign Up